TO THE EDITOR:
Sports Editor Jonathan Jones’ leading phrases to his recent article touting the expansion of Kenan Stadium, at the expense of the pine trees surrounding it, only deepens my sadness at the loss of the green bowl that once embraced the Stadium, enforcing it’s appropriate place in the landscape of campus.
How poignant it makes Marion Redd’s letter to the editor, in the same issue, in which he implicates the long-held necessities (aesthetic, environmental, and civic) that kept the behemoth embraced by Nature.
How times change. Despite our youth’s supposed respect and concern for the environment, we have The Daily Tar Heel celebrating the demolition of Frank Kenan’s “unwritten rule” as if it had been a stranglehold, and not the celebrated pledge it was. Perhaps the Rams Club (of which one wonders would Dr. Kenan have approved) likes to rewrite history to their advantage.
For generations, beauty and preservation frequently worked hand-in-hand with development and growth.
Today, money, Rome’s gladiator glory and competition for bragging rites rule.
This also reflects on the wayward path sports has taken in this country — once conceived as exercise for the spirit as well as the body.
I have nothing against Carolina’s great sports traditions, but every day I grieve over the inability in our society to limit ourselves and to celebrate balance over gloried glitz.
However, we’ve gotta keep the masses blissfully and distractedly entertained from the larger world no matter the cost.
